Cast metal drop door



May 19, 1931. v

G. G. GILPIN CAST IETAL DROP DOOR Filed Jan. 27, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1JJZU enior j Gdrh 6'. 61!] 111/ A [born/g G. s. GlLPlN CAST METAL DROPDOOR Filed Jan. 27, 1928 May 19, 1931.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4) ii 011% 3 y GARTH e.

Patented May 19, 1 931 COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A coaroRArro orDELAWARE oAsr TAL imor noon Application filed January 27, 1928. Seria1No. 250,000.

My invention relatesto the construction of railway cars having dropdoors, such as hopper cars, hopper gondola cars, drop bottom or'gen-eralservice gondola cars, mill type gondolas having drop end doors, or

the like, having a door forming apart of the car for retaining the loadtherein, which door-is provided with hinges adjacent one of itsedges andis capable of being dropped First, it is part of the floor of the carand as such must sustain the load aswell as the impact blow of the loadwhen the car isin motion. Second, the car is frequently loaded fromchutes or tipples from a height of ten feet or more, causing the load tobe dropped directly upon the doors. Third,

clam shell buckets are frequently used to unload-such cars and it is notuncommon for these buckets to rest upon anddrag over the doors. "Fourth,when the door suddenly 7 comes to rest: after being dropped, it is notonly subjectedto asevere shock but itmust' sustain the severeimpactthrust 01 the load which of course follows thedoor'. Fifth, as

the load is theoretically equally distributed, the door must bestrong'over its entire area" and must be capable of'tran'smitting theresulting stresses to the car body without 'much' deflection and nosubstantial distortion. Any bending of" the'door or dr'ooping-ofthecorners would cause a leak'of the ladi'ng, espe'cial'l'y of suchfinematerial as sand, chats,

etc. 'Any bending or-warpingmi'ght'invterferewith'the complete closingand looking of the door.'

An ob 'ect of a door of cast metal, preferably 'inallcable iron or castst'eel,'havi'ng a panel portion forming a floor or wall of a car'and tore-' inforce such panel with cast integral members and to form and shapethe entire door so that it will not be deformed by warping whencooling,.and furthermore, willeliminate shrinkage cracks and internalstresses.

the invention is to provide siLrrN, or-alvnasnne, ILLrNoIsessIeNoB TOUNION METAL, rRonUorsj Both-cast metal and annealedcast metal I ofiergreater resistance to corrosion (and similar chemical actions) thanrolled steel owing to the texture of the metal. When rolled steel isdeformed between dies (whether heated or not) the fibres on' the tensionside of the metal are opened up -or'separated by stretching, while thefibres on the compression side of the metal are forced togetherand'upset. Both such opening up and upsetting actions disrupts thehomogeneity of the fibres, thus permitting the entrance of moisturetherebetween and augmenting corrosion, therefore, another object is toprovide a door more capable to resist corrosion. Railway cars are notonly subject to the usual atmospheric conditions but are subject tochemical actions'of certain loads, such as, for in-' stance, wet coalwhich forms sulphuric acid. In the drawings: Fig. 1 shows a portion of arailway car, with my device-applied thereon.

Fig.2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig.1. Figxiyis a section on line 8 -3of Fig. 1 Figufl is a detail of the'door from the underside; 3

Fig. 5 is a section' on line 5-5'of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a section .on line6-6 of Fig. 4:. Figs; 7 to 9 inclusive show various modified 'torms'ofvthe invention.

In casting a door having an integral'depending flange extending aroundall four of its sides, the liq uid metal is preferably erted by thecooling panel portion. It a transverse, integral rib is provided whichmerges into opposite portions of the integral flange, thecooling'ofthe'panel portion would I break one end (or may be both endsioffthe transverserib away from the integral flange or cause a rupture ofthe lower side of the transverse rib. Ihese are called shrinkage Icracks; The relatively cool perimeter of the panel (i. e., the integralflange) may offer su'liicient resistance to the contraction oi thecooling panel to crack the panel. Sometimes these stresses are notsuflicient to crack and sever the metal but cause internal (latent)stresses which when increased by a load 1mposed upon the door becomesuflicient to (and do) break the door.

To illustrate one adaptation of my device, I have shown a so-calledgeneral service drop bottom gondola car wherein the major portion of thefloor consists of drop doors. The door openings are surrounded by thecenter construction 1; side wall 2 and cross diaphragms In normal. orclosed position the door completely closes this opening and in fact is atrifle larger on all sides than the opening so as to provide a lap jointbetween the door and the car frame member. The doors are hinged to thecenter construction and are supp ed adjacent the side wall by theraising or locking mechanism. Any convenient stop may be used to limitthe downward movement of the door.

The cast metal door comprises a panel 5 with a continuous dependingintegral flange 6 extending around all four sides of the door. The panelis provided with one or more reinforcing ribs 7 springing from thepanelat 8 and extending toward and merging into the portion of theflange 6. The door is also provided with one or more otl or reinforcingribs 9 springing from the opposite side of the panel at 10 and extendingtoward and merging into the portion of the flange 6 opposite from thefirst mentioned ribs 7. These ribs 7 and 9 preferably traverse the majorportion of the panel and the ribs 7 are preferably positioned alternatewith the ribs 9 and furthermore the inner ends of the ribs 7 preferablyoverlap the inner ends of the ribs 9.

As the panel portion of the door cools there is a tendency to elongatethe transverse reinribs 15 merging into the flange 6 adjacent the hingelug 13 and terminating into the panel adjacent to but spaced apart fromthe corners of the door at 14:. Fig. 9 shows the reinforcing ribsarcuate and also substantially concentric.

WVhen a reinforcing rib 15 merges into the flange 6 adjacent the hingelug 13 its companion rib .16 merges into the portion of the flangedirectly opposite the hinge lugs or supports at point 17.

The hinge lugs 13 are cast integral with the depending flange 6 and someof the reinforcing ribs preferably terminate into the panel adjacent theintegral hinge lugs so .to carry their stresses to the hinges.

to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact detailsof construction shown and described, as it is obvious that variousmodifications thereof within the scope of the claims will occur topersons skilled in the art.

In applications Serial No. 249,999; No. 250,001; No. 250,002 and No.250,003, all iled January 2?, 1928, l have disclosed and c.-.aiinedcertain features disclosed but not clai led herein.

I claim:

1. A hinged door for a railway car consisting of an integral castingcomprising a panel with flanges adjacent opposite margins thereof,reinforcing ribs springing from the panel and merging into one of saidflanges, and other reinforcing ribs springing from the panel and merginginto the other of said flanges.

2. A hinged door for a railway car consisting of an inte ral castingcomprising a panel with flanges adjacent opposite margins thereof,reinforcing ribs springing from the panel adjacent the corners of thedoor and merging into one of said flanges adjacent the hinged supportsof the door, and other reinforcing ribs springing from the panel andmerging into the other of said flanges on the opposite side of the doorfrom the-hinge supports.

3. A hinged door for a railway car consisting of an integral castingcomprising a panel with flanges adjacent opposite margins thereof,curved reinforcing ribs springingfrom the panel and merging into one ofsaid flanges, and other curved reinforcing ribs springing from the paneland merging into the other of said flanges.

a. A hinged door for a railway car consisting of an integral castingcomprising a panel with flanges adjacent opposite margins thereof,curved reinforcing ribs springing from the panel adjacent the corners ofthe door and merging into one of said flanges adjacent the hingedsupports of the door, and other curved reinforcing ribs springing fromthe panel and merging into the other of said flanges on the oppositeside of the door from the hinge supports.

5. A hinged door for a railway car consisting of an integral castingcomprising a panel with flanges adjacent opposite margins thereof,reinforcing ribs springing from the panel and merging into one of saidflanges, and other reinforcing ribs springing'from the panel and merginginto the other of said flanges, the flrst mentioned ribs overlapping thelast mentioned ribs.

6. Ahinged door for a railway car consisting of an integral castingcomprising a panel with flanges adjacent opposite margins thereof,reinforcing ribs springing from the panel and merging into one of saidflanges, and

other reinforcing ribs springing from the panel and merging into theother of said flanges, the first mentioned ribs overlapping andalternating with the last mentioned ribs.

7. A hinged door for a railway ear consisting of an integral castingcomprising a panel with flanges adjacent opposite marglns thereof,reinforcing ribs springing from the panel adjacent the corners of thedoor and merging into one'of said flanges adjacent the hinged supportsof the door, and other reiniorcing ribs springing from the panel andmerging into the other or" said flanges directly opposite the hingesupports. Y

8. A hinged door for. a railway car consisti ingot an integral castingoomprlsing a panel 7 with flanges adjacent opposite margins there of,reinforcing ribs springing from the panel adjacent the corners of thedoor and merging into one of said flanges adjacent the hinged supportsof the door. 7

GARTH G. GILPIN. 1

